Transcripts For CNNW CNN 20240702 : vimarsana.com

CNNW CNN July 2, 2024

Youre watching cnn news central. Im Boris Sanchez in washington. John bermen is live in lewiston, maine, where people are now entering their 17th hour sheltering in place as a manhunt for a mass killer intensifies. A short time ago, the governor updated the death toll in last nights shooting rampage to 18. This happened over two locations, about four miles apart. A Bowling Alley and a bar and grill in lewiston. We understand another 13 people were wounded. And now hundreds of officers are furiously searching for this 40yearold Army Reservist named robert card. We see him in these Images Released by the Sheriffs Office pointing an arstyle rifle. He should be considered Armed And Dangerous. Based on our investigation, we believe this is someone who should not be approached. This is someone, if you come in any contact with this individual or someone who looking like this individual, you are to call 911. Reporter yeah, Law Enforcement made clear they consider him Armed And Dangerous, card is charged with eight counts of murder at this time, that reflects the number of victims that have been identified so far. Eight have been identified so far. That means ten as of a short time ago still needed to be identified. Authorities do say that eight of the 18 were gunned down at the bar which is right here behind me. And then the other seven died, first, at the Bowling Alley, which is about a tenminute drive from here. There was a local Council Person who said that you he can barely think about the scope of this tragedy, its just beginning to hit him because his son works Agency A Manager at the local bar. Listen. When you get anything that happens like this, you hope, you go empty. And its just nothing, nothing you can do. Your gut knows like a monster inside of you and it feels like its going to fall off. All right. Cnns shimon is following the shooting. Weve been communicating with the brother of robert card, he says the family has been texted him, reaching out to him, telling him to surrender. As you know, this manhunt is still ongoing as police try to bring him to custody and the brother is telling me that the family is doing everything they can to bring him into custody. Saying the police have been given anything we can offer to fog sill tate their efforts. Also saying weve helped Law Enforcement in any way possible. The brother would not confirm to me whether or not robert card has responded to those pleas from his family to surrender. But weve also spoken to his sisterinlaw who described this as something that was an episode, she tells cnn, he, robert card, did not have a long history of Mental Health issues. She said shes not someone who had Mental Health issues for a long time or anything like that. But what were learning about him, hes 40 years old, searching in the army reserves. Hes described by former colleagues as a skilled marksman. One of them told us he was one of the best shooters in his army reserve unit. He was described as an outdoorsman very comfortable in the woods. But we know, over the summer, we experienced Mental Health issues. He was in a Training Facility in upstate new york, he started Hearing Voices, expressing that he wanted to harm fellow soldiers. He was admitted to a Health Care Facility for several weeks and then released. And then we know what has unfolded last night since then. Lets just repeat that one more time. He reported Hearing Voices he was then put in a Mental Health facility over the summer for some period of time and then released. Any information, at all, pamela, on the terms of that release . Yeah, that is something that were trying to gather. What were the terms. Clearly, he expressed an interest before being admitted to harming his former soldiers and Hearing Voices. We dont know what happened after that. What we do know, he was released. He has a home on hundreds of acres in maine. And he legally possessed multiple weapons. We know hes a firearm enthusiast. And he was able to be released and gain access to his firearms but were trying to learn more about why he was released. Under what terms. Clearly, he would have been evaluated before he was released. And we just dont know what the circumstances are. But that is one of the key questions right now, john. I want to bring in Shimon Prokupecz for the latest. Shimon, we should know, i saw helicopters flying over thats a regular thing here in this part of maine. Even driving here in portland, we were passed by this county sheriff, that county sheriff. State police. I thought i saw massachusetts Law Enforcement vehicle all headed to this area, so whats the latest . Reporter yeah, i mean, theres a lot of resources here to help the Law Enforcement, the local Law Enforcement and the state Law Enforcement. Theres a lot of areas for them to cover, you know, here, where we are, were in lisbon. This is where he dumped the car. Im going to show you here, john, here, this area. This is a boat launch last night. After the shooting. This is where police found that white subaru. What happened after this, unclear. Theyve been out here, Police Searching through this area, all day, all morning, theyve been getting 911 calls. Neighbors are frantic. Residents here afraid for their lives are calling 911 if they hear a noise, if they see something suspicious. So police are responding and they are searching. We were with officers this morning during some of those searches. So definitely, people here on edge. And part of whats making some of this kind of difficult for Law Enforcement, you know, this is a wooded area. Were not seeing them in any of the deep into the wooded area. The only searches theyve been doing out here today have been around homes. As people are calling 911. To cars. Some basic searches. But theyre not going deep into. Id not thought about that in i heard her report just now. Cell phones if the family is communicating, or if hes receiving Cell Phone Texts from them, Law Enforcement would know that. So they could ping his phone which could then potentially tell them perhaps where he is. So that could be playing a big part of this and providing big keys to Law Enforcement. Because i will say one thing to you, john. That i have found kind of interesting is that theyre rather calm, there is this shelter in place, dont leave your home. Businesses are closed. But were not seeing that surge in Law Enforcement here. Theres a lot of things going on Behind The Scenes and theres all sorts of planning. But on the streets here, its quiet, its calm, and youre just not seeing that kind of surge that youre normally seeing in a manhunt. It makes me wonder if they have some things going on Behind The Scenes, clearly, that we just dont know about. Certainly, it is possible. A couple things we will point out, all kinds of establishments have closed shop for the day because they are concerned theres this Armed And Dangerous alleged killer on the loose. Td bank closed 39 branches of its banks. Department of motor vehicles. L. L. Bean which is 15 minutes from here, open on Christmas Day is closed today out of the security concerns. So people are obviously being careful. Shimon, i want to talk about the river, the river behind you, the boat launch, it does raise the possibility that this search is on land and on water. Reporter yeah, it is, so, what was happening earlier was, we did see helicopters kind of flying around the river, out on the other side here, across the road here. Helicopter photographer bob crowley saw him when he was here earlier, flying very, very low, just over the water, just doing a flyby. That would certainly be something that would be interesting, right . If he had a boat here and was able to get away by boat. I mean, the level of planning would be pretty remarkable if that was the case. I mean, the question is, was this a random location for him, right . Did he just drive by here, see a spot and say, you know what im going to dump this car here . Where did he go from here . And, you know, Law Enforcement just wont answer those questions right now. But this just seems its about 15 minutes or so from where you are. And its a really interesting location. Yeah, the river is certainly a concern and then the woods, but so far, Law Enforcement has come up empty here. Theyve not seen him here. Theres not been any kind of sightings, just people on edge, nervous, calling Law Enforcement and theyre doing their jobs. Its a Small Police Department here, john. 17person police department. Theyve been the ones out here all day and all morning, doing the searches. No, its a great point, this is a big area, a wooded area, a lot of wilderness here. Theres also a lot of people who live nearby. Lewiston is about is about 500,000 people, theres a lot of people in the near area very concerned where we stand this afternoon. Shimon prokupecz, not far from where part of the search is taking place. Really Important Information youre giving us in kind of a calm atmosphere surrounding the search. Well get back to you in a bit, boris, lets go back to you. John, just motels ago at a state Department Luncheon with the australian Prime Minister, Vice President Kamala Harris addressed the Mass Shooting in maine, lets listen. As the secretary said before i address why we are convened for today. I will address the tragic events that happened last night in maine. Last night, lewiston became yet another community torn apart by senseless gun violence. Once again, routine gatherings, this time at a Bowling Alley and a restaurant, had been turned into scenes of horrific carnage. Doug and i mourn for those who were killed. We pray for those who were injured. And grieve with so many whose lives are forever changed and impacted by what happened. The Biden Harris Administration will continue to provide full support to local authorities and as we gather, we must continue to speak truth about the moment we are in. In our country today, the leading cause of death of American Children is gun violence. Gun violence has terrorized and traumatized d so many of our communities in this country. And let us be clear, it does not have to be this way. As our friends in australia have demonstrated. And with that then [ applause ] we should point out the Vice President was recently named overseas newly established office of Gun Violence Prevention that the white house set up, as a response to so many Mass Shootings in the United States. Lets get some perspective on the manhunt with cnn Law Enforcement only Charles Ramsey along with analyst Juliette Kayyem. Great to see both of you, unfortunately again, under these circumstances, chief ramsey, lets start with the challenge of finding the suspect. Terrain, rural, heavily wooded area. Hes also someone with extensive military experience, a specialist with firearms. Well, its quite challenging. I mean, thats assuming that hes still in that area. And i dont know if they know for sure that he is. But having said that, it would be Setting Up Grid searches and very carefully going through this. Now, its daylight, so theyre able to conduct a search. Last night, it was just very difficult, but not impossible, it was dark. Very, very dark, if hed been out in the woods, it was almost no light at all. So that many just adds to it. The fact that hes a marksman, a very skilled one. We know he has say highpowered weapon with him, perhaps hes got other weapons that he had in his car, that makes it incredibly dangerous for the men and women out there doing the search. But they were systematically go through the area and hopefully, theyre able to locate him before hes able to do harm to anyone else. Juliette, investigators arent just systematically going through the area, theyre also looking at cell phone data, theyre interviewing Family Members and associates, how does that information potentially lead them to him . Yeah, theres two kinds of this kind of investigation or focusing on the signal imprint. And the one is, where is he . And were assuming that hes kept his phone. So, all of this talk, you know, can they get pings or whatever, he clearly, carefully planned this. He picks sites that become progressively more isolated. So the last is closer to a place where he can hide. Hes survived close to 14 hours along without getting caught. We dont know if he had planned an isolated place to hide. He may have also gotten rid of his phones. All of those things, whether its tracking on roads, its drones, these areas around maine are both some of the most beautiful parts of our country that they, you know, you can put drones over them and at least look for movement or heat movement, or anything like that. You can do the same over water and the lakes. The other reason why you want to do, sort of check his computers and everything, is, of course, motive. We dont know now, were hearing about Mental Health issues. Thats not a reason, right . Lots of people with Mental Health issues are not doing this. What was the triggering was there any hint of a triggering, loss of a job, was it something personal . Was it something political, that he is absorbing . And thats whats important to know because we dont know much about the victims. And we kind of deserve to relatively soon. Ive been surprised how Little Information weve been getting at this stage. I think its incumbent on Law Enforcement to provide that, once families are notified, of course. But to figure out the reason for them, that he picked these places. Sure. Chief ramsey, theres also concern about geography, because this area feasibly is within walking dance from the canadian border. So how does that then complicate the search . Well, i mean, obviously, theyve notified customs and border patrol, no doubt about that. But yet, thats one more complication. I mean, youve got neighboring states, vermont, new hampshire. Hes not that far from m massachusetts. I mean, if hes mobile, we talked about did he are a boat where he ditched the car or did he have a vehicle . One thing they havent provided us with is any search area to give us a sense where they are searching. So, theyve been holding a lot of information back. I understand from the investigative standpoint there is information that needs to be held back. I do think more information could be provided. You know, people are afraid right now. And part of the responsibility is to kind of do your best to assure them. And right now, i just dont see that. Juliette can i Say Something . Yeah, go ahead. No, i mean, being here in this position with you or someone else at cnn a lot. Look, a community is being told to stay inside. This is not sustainable for a long period of time. Someones going to have to make a decision within the next couple of hours that youre just making a risk calculation, if we dont find him, if they dont find him. But you cant have populations traumatized by the shooting now traumatized by the search. And not providing what youre doing as chief ramsey was saying. I struggle with these lockdowns because you kind of dont want People Living in fear. At some stage, relatively soon, someone has to make a decision that the calculus, and this is what was done in the boston marathon, people had to also begin to mourn together, be a community again together, rather than hide. And its hard. I cant imagine what its like living in that area now. Yeah. Its a dielicate balance of providing the public with information and protecting that jf information, Juliette Kayyem and chief ramsey, thank you for the time. Thank you. We still have more on the breaking news out of maine. Were going to take a closer look at how hospitals handled the chaos and care. Plus, were still watching news out of The Middle East, the Israeli Military said it carried out a targeted raid with tanks overnight. What that could Sisignal Aboutue Nextxt phase of f the war. Thats Stitill Ahead O on cnn centraral. All right, john berman here in lewiston, maine. Youre looking at live pictures outside of

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